Housewife Gone Wild

Chapter 24

Wendy made me a nutritious breakfast. I was halfway through my meal when Yvonne came bounding in. “Mom, you’re not going to work today,” she declared. “You have to stay home and play with me.”

I looked at her while spooning my gruel. “From now on, I will be going back to work,” I said. “But we’ll sign you up for some fun classes–you’ll have teachers and classmates to keep you company.”

Yvonne’s face paled at the mention of classes. In an instant, she was pointing at me, her voice rising to a wail. “I don’t want classes. You’re mean. I hate you. I’m telling Grandma.” She turned and ran toward the door to find her grandmother.

“Come back,” I commanded, my voice icy. “Go ahead–try telling on me.”

Yvonne’s face was still wet with crocodile tears. She turned to look at me, her eyes wide–almost like she was seeing me for the first time. And for just a second, I caught a flicker of fear.

water, and fixed her with a cold stare. “Yvonne, I’m your mother. I brought you into this world.

a different mother, go ask your father. I won’t

message quickly. After a pause, she inched closer, clutching my arm. “Mom, I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I won’t talk back again. And I won’t tattle to

in my previous life, she’d still been taking

pain, that I was my

as a parent, and I didn’t know how to fix it. All I wanted was to raise a child who might one day look at me with

It encouraged us to offer support rather than impose limitations, to foster happiness

in the 80s and 90s, caught between these new ideas and how we were raised, it became

soon.” Rubbing my temples, I nudged Yvonne toward her pony and went upstairs to

the night before–love bites scattered down my neck and back. Back then, I would’ve covered every

bother hiding a single one. Why should I? A